Thursday, August 14, 2008

Black + White Friday: Days of Heaven

No doubt that Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven is the most beautiful movie I have ever seen. So I thought I would experiment and see if this 1978 movie is even half as beautiful in black and white as it is in natural sepia colour.

Do bridges like that even exist anymore? They don't exactly look too sturdy, if you ask me.

Oh, hey! Look! There's some wheat! There's, like, none of that stuff in this movie.

I guess I lied.

Need we have any more proof that Richard Gere used to be so very pretty. Just a few years after Days of Heaven was made (even though it was released in 1978, it was made around 1975. Malick spent over two years editing it) Gere was starring in American Gigolo and I think we all remember how that one turned out.

*sigh* Just taking screencaps of this movie is making me gushy as this movie is want to do. The images in this movie are just so beautiful. I don't know how anyone can watch this movie and not be taken by it. This shot of Gere and Brooke Adams is lovely. Did you know Adams, who hasn't done anything anywhere near as good as this, is married to Tony Shalhoub. The upside being that she's probably been able to go to quite a few Emmy after parties for the free food and champagne.

Succumb. It's all you can do.

I think this scene was filmed under a freeway overpass, I kid you not. Still, I needed something of Sam Shephard, who doesn't exactly let Gere win the pretty race so easily.

More wheat. Whod've thunk it?

The famous locust fire sequence is so well done and so beautifully made that I could have taken the entire ten images from those five minutes or so alone, but I held myself back. It's all just so beautiful.

This is probably my favourite shot in the entire movie. As the camera follows Gere and Adams against the backdrop of the locust fire, their silhouettes are so dramatic and powerful, even in black and white.

Disclaimer

Everything that is written on this webpage - Stale Popcorn and any tangents from it - is written by me, Glenn Dunks, unless otherwise stated. It is appreciated that if you wish to reproduce any of that you do so with an appropriate link (please do not copy it all because that gives your reader no reason to come by here and possibly increase my traffic).

If any pictures or music files are posted on Stale Popcorn that are owned by you and wish to be credited for or have removed please feel free to send me an email using one of the addresses at the top of the page. I will gladly oblige.